Shall We Go Back to 2019?
Or, fancy hanging out with me in early 2024, actually in person, like it's 2019 all over again
Waaaaay back in 2016 my gorgeous friend (and first ever coach) Nikki Armytage-Foy and I ran a retreat. We’d never run a retreat before and had no idea what we were doing but there’s nothing like ignorance for installing confidence. We booked a beautiful but bonkers converted farmhouse in Devon, complete with sculptures of the owner’s breasts on the wall and a mural of her husband in a toga surrounded by women in the pool-house. It’s one of my favourite places in the world but when you describe it to people, it’s mad.
We gathered together a group of incredible women whose stories blew me away. We laughed and cried, and ate copious amounts of homemade cake from our brilliant chef. In good retreat tradition we went on a walk across the hills and got lost, and then we wrote down everything we wanted to leave behind and burnt it over a fire before dancing wildly and then dashing back inside to the warm.
Other things that happened that were not on the official retreat plan:
The delivery of 72 eggs - fresh from the local farm - that our chef had ordered to be there on arrival were marked as delivered but couldn’t be found. We finally found them on the last day of the retreat, tucked away in a barn under an ancient tractor.
Realising that Devon in December is beautiful but damp and having to scare up five extra heaters to ensure that the attendees were just about warm.
I somehow persuaded the Coconut Collaborative to gift us 40 chocolate coconut mousse pots. Why? I don’t know. But they were delicious, thanks CC.
While we loved running that retreat, we haven’t done it again. Instead in 2017 and 2018 I ran a slimmed down version in London. Two days and a small group of women setting their intentions for the coming year. I called it Purpose and Abundance, because that’s what I always want to call in at the start of the year and I reasoned that if that’s what I wanted, then others would want it to. It was a really lovely way to start the year… and then Covid happened.
I haven’t run any in-person events since Covid. I think I’ve lost confidence in them, not convinced that anyone wants to trek across a city to be with other people when they could be on their sofa with Zoom instead. And honestly, holding space in-person for a group’s hopes and dreams requires a lot of energy and I just haven’t had that for a while.
But I’m tempted by running Purpose and Abundance again in January. What do you think?
This is how it would work.
Two days, in person, somewhere in London (sorry non-Londoners, I know it’s annoying but it’s also the easiest place for everyone to get to. Find me a group somewhere else and I’ll come there instead).
Day one is all about getting clear on what you want for the coming year. There will be individual and group work, plus some 1-2-1 coaching. We’ll look at hopes and desires and what’s holding you back. If you know you want more in 2024 but you’re not sure what more looks like, then day one will help you solve that. It’s all about working out your purpose for 2024.
Day two is about calling it in IN ABUNDANCE. I don’t know about you but I have never resonated with the expression “too much of a good thing” - I want ALL of a good thing. So day two is about owning that and working out how we get it. I don’t want to brag but past attendees have left this workshop wanting promotions, more money, babies and relationships - and they’ve got them! I can’t take any credit for it, there’s a sort of magic that happens when people come together and just own what they want. It’s really uplifting and beautiful.
I want to run this again at the end of Jan 2024 but I’m scared - does anyone want this? So, I’d love to hear from you. Would you be interested? I’ve just checked my accounts and the 2017 price was £570 for the two days, so I’m going to hold it at that. Paying subscribers to this newsletter will get a 10% discount. Payment plans will be available.
Are you in? If you’d be interested and want to know more, drop me an email on harriet.minter@gmail.com.
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YES PLEASE! X
This sounds brilliant ✨